Recording and/or reproducing apparatus, recording and/or reproducing method and information storage medium therefor

ABSTRACT

A recording and/or reproducing apparatus, a recording and/or reproducing method, and an information storage medium, wherein the recording and/or reproducing apparatus includes: a writing and/or reading unit writing data to or reading data from an information storage medium having one or more information recording layers; and a control unit controlling the writing and/or reading unit to write the data to the information storage medium by referring to one or more disk information structures including recording related parameter information corresponding to recording characteristics of the information storage medium, and recording characteristic information to which the recording related parameters are applied. According to the apparatus and method, parameters of recording characteristics appropriate to a recording and/or reproducing apparatus and compatibility between different specifications can be achieved.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 11/091,452filed on Mar. 29, 2005, now pending, and claims the benefit of KoreanPatent Application No. 2004-43332, filed on Jun. 12, 2004 in the KoreanIntellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporatedherein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a recording and/or reproducingapparatus, a recording and/or reproducing method, and an informationstorage medium.

2. Description of the Related Art

Generally, an optical disk is widely used as an information storagemedium in an optical pickup apparatus for recording and/or reproducinginformation. According to the information recording capacity, theoptical disc is classified into a compact disk (CD) and a digitalversatile disk (DVD). Optical disks capable of recording, deleting, andreproducing data include a 650 MB CD-R, a CD-RW, and a 4.7 GB DVD+RW,and optical disks for reproducing data include a 650 MB CD, and a 4.7 GBDVD-ROM. Furthermore, a HD-DVD having a recording capacity of over 25 GBis under development.

Due to recent developments of optical disk technologies, semiconductortechnologies, and recording/reproducing strategies, addition of newfunctions and recording layers to an optical disk, and increases in arecording speed, standards for optical systems, including optical drivesystems and optical disks need to be constantly updated.

FIG. 1 is a reference diagram explaining the problem of diskcompatibility according to the conventional technology.

Assuming that a conventional standard is referred to as an ‘old’standard and a standard updated by increasing the number of recordinglayers, increasing the recording speed or adding a write strategy to theold standard, is referred to as a ‘new’ standard, an old standard disk110 is made to operate in an old standard drive system 111 and a newstandard disk 120 is made to operate in a new standard drive system 121.

Due to the added characteristics, that is, the number of recordinglayers, the recording speed, or the write strategy, the old standard andthe new standard may or may not be compatible for recording and/orreproducing data. The recording and/or reproducing compatibility of thetwo standards means that the old standard disk 110 used in the oldstandard drive system 111 can also be used in the new standard drivesystem 121 for data recording and/or reproducing. Also, it means thatthe new standard disk 120 used in the new standard drive system 121 canalso be used in the old standard drive system 111 for data recordingand/or reproducing.

In order to guarantee mutual recording and/or reproducing compatibilitybetween the two standards, when the new standard disk 120 to which newfunctions are applied is loaded on the old standard drive system 111,the old standard drive system 111 needs to provide an appropriatetreatment for the new function. For this, when the old standard is setup, an appropriate treatment for future addition of new characteristicsshould be prepared.

In addition, this appropriate treatment should be a generalized one thatcan be applied to the new standard, because it should be able to beapplied even when the new standard is updated by adding another newcharacteristic.

Accordingly, in order for a series of different standards to be mutuallycompatible for recording and/or reproducing, preparation for addition ofnew characteristics should be performed when the standard is set up. Forthis, it is necessary to set up a rule by which a drive system operatesin a known current standard, and a common rule by which the currentdrive system operates in the future standard and which is not known tothe current standard.

That is, if the characteristic of a disk is recorded on the disk in theform of information that can be commonly recognized by different diskstandards, even when a future disk to which a new characteristic isadded is loaded on a current standard drive system, according to theinformation, recognizable information on the disk is read such that thedisk can be used.

Accordingly, in order to guarantee flexibility and scalability of a diskinformation structure when variables such as a write strategy are addedin addition to increasing the number of recording layers and therecording speed, a disk information structure and a recording method fora disk information structure are needed.

Also, when a plurality of disk information structures exists on onemedium, there is a need to quickly find a disk information structureappropriate to the recording characteristic from a plurality of diskinformation structures.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided arecording and/or reproducing apparatus, a recording and/or reproducingmethod, and an information storage medium by which a disk informationstructure can be quickly found and flexibility and scalability of thedisk information structures can be guaranteed.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda recording and/or reproducing apparatus including: a writing and/orreading unit writing data to or reading data from an information storagemedium having one or more information recording layers; and a controlunit controlling the writing and/or reading unit to write data on theinformation storage medium by referring to one or more disk informationstructures including information on recording related parameterscorresponding to recording characteristics of the information storagemedium, and information on the recording characteristics to which therecording related parameters are applied.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the information of therecording characteristics may include at least one of a recording speed,a recording layer, and write strategy (WS) indication information.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the recording speed andthe recording layer included in the information of the recordingcharacteristics may indicate a recording speed and a recording layer towhich recording related parameters in the disk information structure canbe applied.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the WS indicationinformation included in the information of the recording characteristicsmay indicate a WS of the recording related parameters in the diskinformation structure.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the WS indicationinformation included in the information of the recording characteristicsmay indicate a combination of a predetermined WS and predeterminedfunctions irrelevant to the WS.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the information storagemedium may be any one of a reproduction dedicated type, a rewritabletype, or a write once type.

According to an aspect of the present invention, in order to obtainrecording related parameters appropriate to the recording and/orreproducing apparatus, the control unit may further find information ofthe recording characteristics of the recording and/or reproducingapparatus from information on the recording characteristics included inthe one or more disk information structures.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the control unit mayfurther determine a recording characteristic appropriate to therecording and/or reproducing apparatus, find disk information structureincluding the determined recording characteristic from one or more diskinformation structures, and control the writing and/or reading unit towrite data to the information storage medium by using recording relatedparameters included in the found disk information structure.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda recording and/or reproducing method of recording data on and readingdata from an information storage medium having one or more informationrecording layers, the method including: recording data on theinformation storage medium by referring to one or more disk informationstructures including information of recording related parameterscorresponding to recording characteristics of the information storagemedium, and information of the recording characteristics to which therecording related parameters are applied.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided an information storage medium having one or more informationrecording layers wherein one or more disk information structuresincluding information of recording related parameters corresponding torecording characteristics of the information storage medium, andinformation of the recording characteristics to which the recordingrelated parameters are applied are recorded in a predetermined area ofthe information storage medium.

Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forthin part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obviousfrom the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent and more readily appreciated from the following description ofthe embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings ofwhich:

FIG. 1 is a reference diagram explaining the problem of diskcompatibility according to the conventional technology;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of the structure of a disk to which the presentinvention is applied;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of the data structure of a disk informationstructure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a reference diagram explaining compatibility of a diskinformation structure according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 is an example of a disk information structure which is recordedon a version 1.0 disk shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an example of a disk information structure which is recordedon a version 1.1 disk shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is an example of a disk information structure which is recordedon a version 1.2 disk shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a recording and/orreproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the presentinvention; and

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a recording and/reproducing method according toan embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of thepresent invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elementsthroughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain thepresent invention by referring to the figures.

Referring to FIG. 2, a lead-in area is disposed in the innermostcircumference of the disk, a lead-out area is disposed in the outermostcircumference of the disk, and a user data area in which user data isrecorded is disposed between the lead-in area and the lead-out area.

The lead-in area is formed with a pre-recorded zone, in whichpredetermined information is recorded in advance when the disk ismanufactured, and a recordable area.

The recordable area includes a buffer between the pre-recorded zone andthe recordable area, a defect management area to record defect relatedinformation such as the address of replacement data replacing defectivedata occurring in the user data area, a test area disposed to perform atest to obtain an optical write power when data is recorded in the userdata area, and a drive/disk state information area to record informationrelated to the state of the drive or disk.

The pre-recorded zone is a control data area in which control data isrecorded, and includes information on the disk type, version, disk size,disk structure, disk speed and recording parameters.

In this control data area, a disk information structure according to thepresent invention can be recorded. The disk information structureaccording to the present invention will now be explained with referenceto FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of the data structure of a disk informationstructure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a disk information structure300 is divided into a common information table 310, a parameterrecognition information table 320, and a parameter table 330 as shown inFIG. 3 so that after a disk is placed on a drive, disk relatedinformation can be read most effectively.

The common information table 310 includes a type of a storage medium311, a number of information storage layers 312, and a supportedrecording speed 313.

The type of a storage medium 311 indicates information on whether themedium is a write once medium, a rewritable medium, or a reproductiondedicated medium. The number of information storage layers 312 indicatesthe number of entire information storage layers the medium has. Thesupported recording speed 313 is information of the recording speedsupported by the medium, and can be expressed by a lowest speed and ahighest speed, or by individually supported recording speeds. Forexample, it can be expressed as 1×, 2×, 4×, or 6×.

The parameter recognition information table 320 includes a recordingspeed 321, and a recording layer 322, to which recording relatedparameters stored in the parameter table of this information structureare applied, and write strategy (WS) indication information 323indicating which write strategy the recording related parameters areassociated with.

The recording speed 321 refers to a recording speed, to which recordingrelated parameters in the parameter table of this disk informationstructure are applied, and the recording layer 322 refers to a recordinglayer to which recording related parameters in the parameter table ofthis disk information structure are applied. The WS indicationinformation 323 indicates which WS is recorded in the parameter table ofthis information structure. Of course, for this, a representative numberfor each WS should be predetermined.

Here, a representative number of a WS is not limited to one writestrategy, and this representative number can be increased into multiplenumbers as the standard is upgraded by adding other informationirrelevant to the WS. In other words, when the first standard is set up,it can be determined that if write strategy indication information inthe disk information structure of the disk for the standard indicates“1”, recording related parameters in the parameter table of the diskinformation structure indicate WS A. After that time, if WS B isrequired as the standard is updated by adding a new transfer rate, theupdated standard will have two WS, WS A and WS B. Since it cannot besaid that only the new transfer rate and the accompanying WS are addedwhen the standard is updated, addition of other information (Alpha) canbe expected. Accordingly, it can be guaranteed that if WS indicationinformation in the disk information structure of the disk for updatedstandard indicates “2”, the recording related parameters in theparameter table of the disk information structure including the Alphafunction, indicates WS A, or it can be guaranteed that if WS indicationinformation in the disk information structure indicates “3”, therecording related parameters in the parameter table of the diskinformation structure including the Alpha function, indicate WS B. Thus,the disk information structure will be recorded on the disk. When manydifferent types of media, according to this standard update, are loadedon a drive system, and the disk information structures recorded on themedia are reproduced, the drive system can identify if WS indicationinformation is 1 or 2, the recording related parameters in the parametertable of the disk information structure indicate WS A, and if WSindication information is 3, the recording related parameters in theparameter table of the disk information structure indicate WS B. As thestandard will be continuously updated, a representative numberindicating WS A and a representing number indicating WS B can be addedaccording to the settings used when the standard is first set up.

The parameter table 330 includes a pulse cycle (Ttop) when recordingbegins, a pulse cycle (Tmp) in the middle of recording, a pulse cycle(Tcl) when recording finishes, a recording power (Pw), a delete power(Pe), and a bias power (Pb), as recording parameters, and according toan embodiment of the present invention, includes a recording speed, arecording layer, and WS indication information, in particular. Inaddition, the parameter table 330 can include reproduction relatedparameters depending on the implementations.

Thus, in the disk information structure according to an embodiment ofthe present invention, by including the recording speed, the recordinglayer, and the WS indication information in the parameter recognitioninformation table, which recording speed, which recording layer and whatWS the disk information structure has, can be known by recognizing theparameter recognition information table. In other words, in order toquickly obtain recording related information, the present inventionindicates which recording speed, recording layer, and WS are recorded inthe parameter table of the disk information structure, by the parameterrecognition information table.

For example, it is assumed that there are 2 recording layers, asupported recording speed is 1×, and there are two WS, WS1 and WS2. Atthis time, the disk drive can know which speed and recording layer therecording related parameters stored in the parameter table of thisinformation structure are to be applied to, from the parameterrecognition information table. Also, the disk drive can know which WSthis disk information structure desires to apply, from the WS indicationinformation without reading the recording related parameters stored inthe parameter table. That is, in an embodiment of the present invention,a recording speed and a recording layer to be applied by this diskinformation structure are indicated in the recording speed field andrecording layer field, respectively, in the parameter recognitioninformation table, and the WS1 is indicated by WS indicationinformation=“1”, and the WS2 is indicated by WS indicationinformation=“2”. By doing so, the recording speed and the recordinglayer to which the recording related parameters stored in the parametertable are applied can be known, and even without reading information,such as Ttop, Tmp, and Tcl, in the parameter table one by one, it can beknown at least which WS the recording related parameters stored in theparameter table of this disk information structure are about.

For example, assuming that the speed is 1×, and the drive system whichdesires to record data on recording layer 0 supports only WS1, in orderto record the data, the drive system only needs to use parameters of WS1specified in the parameter table of a disk information structure, afterfinding the disk information structure having disk information on speed1×, recording layer 0, and disk information on WS1, from the parameterrecognition information tables of respective disk information structuresamong disk information items. By doing so, when data is recorded, thedrive system can quickly find required recording related parameterinformation from the parameter recognition information table such thatthe use of the disk can be improved.

FIG. 4 is a reference diagram explaining compatibility of a diskinformation structure according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

In the first standard, WS indication information that can be applied tothe initial speed 1× is denoted “1”. When a new transfer rate is added,that is, when adding a 2× speed when the first standard is updated tothe second standard, new WS B that can be applied to speed 2× is added,the WS indication information is denoted “2”. Also, when adding a 4×speed when the second standard is updated to the third standard, new WSC that can be applied to the 4× speed as well as 2× speed is denoted“3”. Thus, by giving numbers sequentially in order of appearance of aWS, a plurality of WSs can be managed and compatibility among standardscan be easily achieved.

That is, assuming that there are three types of WSs A, B, and C, and aWS indication rule is set as A=1, B=2, and C=3, if WS indicationinformation is “1”, it indicates WS A, if WS indication information is“2”, it indicates WS B, and if WS indication information is “3”, itindicates WS C.

Referring to FIG. 4, drive systems and disks of three standards(rewritable information storage media) are shown.

The version 1.0 disk 410 that complies with a first standard hascharacteristics of a 1× speed, 2 recording layers, and WS A. The version1.1 disk 420 that complies with a second standard has characteristics of1× and 2× speeds, 2 recording layers, and WS A and WS B. The version 1.2disk 430 that complies with a third standard has characteristics of 1×,2×, and 4× speeds, 2 recording layers, and WS A, WS B, and WS C.

Thus, assuming that the first standard is gradually updated to the thirdstandard, the order by which disk information structures are recorded ina disk information area and the purpose of WS indication informationwill now be explained.

First, for convenience of explanation, it is assumed that WS A can beapplied to only a 1× speed in all standards, WS B can be applied to only2× speed in the second and third standards, and WS C can be applied toonly 2× and 4× speeds in the third standard. At this time, the availablenumbers of disk information structures recorded in a disk informationarea and recorded formats according to each standard are shown in FIGS.5 through 7, respectively.

FIG. 5 is an example of a disk information structure which is recordedon the version 1.0 disk shown in FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 5, the entire disk information structure includes diskinformation structures #1 510 and #2 520.

In both the common tables 511 and 521 of the disk information structure#1 510 and #2 520, it is recorded that storage medium type=“rewritable”,number of information storage layers=“2” and supported recordingspeed=“1”.

In the parameter recognition information table 512 of the diskinformation structure #1 510, it is recorded that recording speed=“1”,recording layer=“1”, and WS indication information=“1”. In the parametertable 513, recording related parameter information on the informationincluded in the parameter recognition information table 512, that is,(recording speed, recording layer, WS indication information)=(1,1,1),is recorded. Here, recording speed=1 indicates that the recording speedis 1×, and recording layer=1 indicates one of two recording layers, andWS indication information=1 indicates WS A.

In the parameter recognition information table 522 of the diskinformation structure #1, it is recorded that recording speed=“1”,recording layer=“2”, and WS indication information=“1”. In the parametertable 523, recording related parameter information on the informationincluded in the parameter recognition information table 522, that is,(recording speed, recording layer, WS indication information)=(1,2,1),is recorded.

FIG. 6 is an example of a disk information structure which is recordedon the version 1.1 disk shown in FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 6, the entire disk information structure includes diskinformation structures #1 through #4 610 through 640.

In all the common tables (not shown) of the disk information structure#1 through #4 610 through 640, it can be recorded that storage mediumtype=“rewritable”, number of information storage layers=“2” andsupported recording speed=“1, 2”.

In the parameter recognition information table 611 of the diskinformation structure #1 610, it is recorded that recording speed=“1”,recording layer=“1”, and WS indication information=“1”. In the parametertable 612, recording related parameter information on the informationincluded in the parameter recognition information table 611, that is,(recording speed, recording layer, WS indication information)=(1,1,1),is recorded. In FIG. 6, for convenience of explanation, an ordered setof P=(recording speed, recording layer, WS) is shown, and, for example,P=(V, L, N) indicates that a Vx transfer rate, the L-th recording layer,and a WS named as N. As described above, the value of N to indicate apredetermined WS is not limited to one, and there can be a plurality ofvalues by addition of new information or update of a standard accordingto a predetermined setting.

In the parameter recognition information table 621 of the diskinformation structure #2 620, recording speed=“1”, recording layer=“2”,and WS indication information=“1,” is recorded. In the parameter table622, recording related parameter information on the information includedin the parameter recognition information table 621, that is, (recordingspeed, recording layer, WS indication information)=(1,2,1), is recorded.

In the parameter recognition information table 631 of the diskinformation structure #3 630, recording speed=“2”, recording layer=“1”,and WS indication information=“2,” is recorded. In the parameter table632, recording related parameter information on the information includedin the parameter recognition information table 631, that is, (recordingspeed, recording layer, WS indication information)=(2,1,2), is recorded.

In the parameter recognition information table 641 of the diskinformation structure #4 640, recording speed=“2”, recording layer=“2”,and WS indication information=“2,” is recorded. In the parameter table642, recording related parameter information on the information includedin the parameter recognition information table 641, that is, (recordingspeed, recording layer, WS indication information)=(2,2,2), is recorded.

FIG. 7 is an example of a disk information structure which is recordedon the version 1.2 disk shown in FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 7, the entire disk information structure includes diskinformation structures #1 through #8 710 through 780.

In all the common tables (not shown) of the disk information structure#1 through #8 710 through 780, it can be recorded the storage mediumtype=“rewritable”, number of information storage layers=“2” andsupported recording speed=“1, 2, 4”.

In the parameter recognition information table 711 of the diskinformation structure #1 710, recording speed=“1”, recording layer=“1”,and WS indication information=“1,” is recorded. In the parameter table712, recording related parameter information on the information includedin the parameter recognition information table 711, that is, (recordingspeed, recording layer, WS indication information)=(1,1,1), is recorded.Here, recording speed=1 indicates that the recording speed is 1×, andrecording layer=1 indicates one of two recording layers, and WSindication information=1 indicates WS A.

In the parameter recognition information table 721 of the diskinformation structure #2 720, recording speed=“1”, recording layer=“2”,and WS indication information=“1,” is recorded. In the parameter table722, recording related parameter information on the information includedin the parameter recognition information table 721, that is, (recordingspeed, recording layer, WS indication information)=(1,2,1), is recorded.

In the parameter recognition information table 731 of the diskinformation structure #3 730, recording speed=“2”, recording layer=“1”,and WS indication information=“2,” is recorded. In the parameter table732, recording related parameter information on the information includedin the parameter recognition information table 731, that is, (recordingspeed, recording layer, WS indication information)=(2,1,2), is recorded.

In the parameter recognition information table 741 of the diskinformation structure #4 740, recording speed=“2”, recording layer=“2”,and WS indication information=“2,” is recorded. In the parameter table742, recording related parameter information on the information includedin the parameter recognition information table 741, that is, (recordingspeed, recording layer, WS indication information)=(2,2,2), is recorded.

In the parameter recognition information table 751 of the diskinformation structure #5 750, recording speed=“2”, recording layer=“1”,and WS indication information=“3,” is recorded. In the parameter table752, recording related parameter information on the information includedin the parameter recognition information table 751, that is, (recordingspeed, recording layer, WS indication information)=(2,1,3), is recorded.

In the parameter recognition information table 761 of the diskinformation structure #6 760, recording speed=“2”, recording layer=“2”,and WS indication information=“3,” is recorded. In the parameter table762, recording related parameter information on the information includedin the parameter recognition information table 761, that is, (recordingspeed, recording layer, WS indication information)=(2,2,3), is recorded.

In the parameter recognition information table 771 of the diskinformation structure #7 770, recording speed=“4”, recording layer=“1”,and WS indication information=“3,” is recorded. In the parameter table772, recording related parameter information on the information includedin the parameter recognition information table 771, that is, (recordingspeed, recording layer, WS indication information)=(4,1,3), is recorded.

In the parameter recognition information table 781 of the diskinformation structure #8 780, recording speed=“4”, recording layer=“2”,and WS indication information=“3,” is recorded. In the parameter table782, recording related parameter information on the information includedin the parameter recognition information table 781, that is, (recordingspeed, recording layer, WS indication information)=(4,2,3), is recorded.

Generally, a new WS is required by addition of a new transfer rate, andby defining a disk information structure and recording the structure ona medium according to an embodiment of the present invention, asdescribed above, compatibility among standards can be guaranteed.

For example, if a rewritable information storage medium 430 manufacturedcomplying with the third standard is placed on the drive system 421supporting the second standard, the drive system 421 can quickly obtaindisk information structures corresponding to the second standard amongdisk information structures recorded on the disk information area of therewritable information storage medium 430, from the parameterrecognition information table, while maintaining compatibility. That is,when the rewritable information storage medium 430 is placed on thedrive system 421, if the drive system 421 desires to record data on thefirst recording layer of the medium 430 with a recording speed of 2×,then, the drive system 421 first finds a disk information structure inwhich values of a parameter recognition information table are (recordingspeed, recording layer, WS indication information)=(2,1,2), among diskinformation structures of the disk information area of the medium 430,and by referring to recording related parameters in the parameter tableof this disk information structure, can perform recording data. Thereason for finding the disk information structure of WS indicationinformation=“2” is that WS B is the only WS that can be applied to the2× transfer rate in a drive system supporting the second standard. Also,in the present embodiment, “2” is the only representative numberindicating WS B.

By managing disk information structures, scalability as well ascompatibility with other media can be guaranteed and therefore, thepresent invention has the advantage of being able to accommodate afuture increase in the numbers of recording layers, recording speeds,and WSs. Also, by preparing these rules, uniformity and compatibility ofstandards between a rewritable information storage medium and a writeonce information storage medium can be achieved.

The plurality of disk information structures as described above arerecorded in a disk information area of a disk, and are recorded inadvance when the disk is manufactured. For example, as shown in FIG. 2,these can be recorded in a pre-recorded zone of a lead-in area. However,the zone is just an example and the structures can be recorded in anyarea that can store the disk information structures in a disk that canbe available in the future.

Also, the explanation of the disk information structures as presentedabove indicates the logical structure of a disk information structure,and does not limit it to a physical structure. That is, it does notlimit the disk information structure to the fact that the diskinformation structure is actually divided into physical areas of acommon information table, a parameter recognition information table, anda parameter table, but rather the information stored in the diskinformation structure can be logically divided as in the embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a recording and/orreproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 8, the recording and/or reproducing apparatus includesa writing and/or reading unit 2 and a control unit 1.

The writing and/or reading unit 2 has a pickup and other parts andwrites data on and/or reads data from a disk 100 that is an opticalrecording information storage medium on which a disk informationstructure according to an embodiment of the present invention isrecorded.

The control unit 1 controls the writing and/or reading unit 2 such thatdata is written to and read from the disk 100 according to apredetermined file system.

In particular, when the disk 100 is loaded, the control unit 1 accordingto an embodiment of the present invention controls the writing and/orreading unit 2, such that a plurality of disk information structures areread from the disk 100, a disk information structure appropriate to thisrecording and/or reproducing apparatus from the disk informationstructures is found, and by using parameters of the found diskinformation structure, data is recorded on or read from the disk 100.

The control unit 1 includes a system controller 10, a host I/F 20, a DSP30, an RF AMP 40 and a servo 50.

When data is recorded, the host I/F 20 receives a predetermined writecommand from a host and transmits the command to the system controller10. The system controller 10 controls the DSP 30 and the servo 50 inorder to perform this write command received from the host I/F 20. Forerror correction, the DSP 30 adds additional data, such as a parity, tothe data received from the host I/F 20 and to the data to be recorded,performs error correction code (ECC) encoding to generate an ECC blockthat is an error correction block, and then modulates the generated ECCblock in a predetermined method. The RF AMP 40 converts the data outputfrom the DSP 30 into an RF signal. The writing and/or reading unit 2having a pickup records the RF signal transmitted by the RF AMP 40 onthe disk 100. The servo 50 receives a command input required for servocontrol from the system controller 10 and servo controls the pickup ofthe writing and/or reading unit 2. In particular, the system controller10 according to an embodiment of the present invention reads a pluralityof disk information structures recorded on the disk 100, and finds adisk information structure appropriate to this recording and/orreproducing apparatus from the parameter recognition information tablesof the disk information structures. For example, the system controller10 searches recording speeds, recording layers, and WS indicationinformation recorded in the parameter recognition information tables fora parameter recognition information table having the same information asthe recording speed of the system controller 10, the recording layer onwhich the system controller 10 desires to record data, and WS indicationinformation of a WS that the system controller 10 can support. Then, byreferring to recording related parameters included in the parametertable of the disk information structure which includes the parameterrecognition information table, the system controller 10 controls theelements of the control unit 1, such that each element of the controlunit 1 is set and according to the setting, data is recorded on the disk100.

When data is reproduced, the host I/F 20 receives a reproduction commandfrom the host. The system controller 10 performs initialization requiredfor reproduction. The writing and/or reading unit 2 irradiates a laserbeam on the disk 100, and outputs an optical signal from the laser beamreflected from the disk 100. The RF AMP 40 converts the optical signaloutput from the writing and/or reading unit 2 into an RF signal, andprovides modulated data obtained from the RF signal to the DSP 30, whileproviding a servo signal for control obtained from the RF signal, to theservo 50. The DSP 30 demodulates the modulated data and outputs dataobtained through ECC error correction. Meanwhile, the servo 50 receivesa service signal from the RF AMP 40 and a command required for servocontrol received from the system controller 10, and performs servocontrol for the pickup. The host I/F 20 transmits data received from theDSP 30 to the host. In particular, the system controller 10 according toan embodiment of the present invention reads a plurality of diskinformation structures recorded on the disk 100, and finds a diskinformation structure appropriate to this recording and/or reproducingapparatus from the parameter recognition information tables of the diskinformation structures. Though recording related parameters are mainlyexplained above with reference to FIGS. 3 through 7, when data isreproduced, if there is a plurality of reproduction related parameters,a disk information structure can also be applied to reproduction relatedparameters in a similar manner to the disk information structure onwhich recording related parameters are recorded. For example, the systemcontroller 10 searches reproduction related indication informationrecorded in the parameter recognition information tables and finds aparameter recognition information table containing informationappropriate to the reproduction characteristics of the system controller10, and by referring to reproduction related parameters included in theparameter table of the disk information structure including theparameter recognition information table, controls such that each elementof the control unit 1 is set and according to the setting, data recordedon the disk 100 is reproduced.

The recording and/or reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. 8 can beimplemented as separate recording apparatus and reproducing apparatus,or as one recording and reproducing apparatus.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the operations performed by a recording and/orreproducing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, a disk is placed on a drive system in operation 910. The systemcontroller 10 of the drive system determines a recording environmentappropriate to this drive system in operation 920. For example, it canbe determined which recording speed this drive system supports, whichrecording layer of the disk the system controller 10 desires data to berecorded on, or which WS this drive system supports. Of course, here,the meaning of determining includes simply reading these values in aninternal memory of this drive system.

Next, the system controller 10 finds a disk information structurecorresponding to the determined recording environment from parameterrecognition information tables in the disk information area of the diskin operation 930. That is, the system controllers reads disk informationstructures recorded in the disk information area of the disk and finds aparameter recognition information table containing the same informationas the determined recording environment, that is, the recording layer,recording speed and WS indication information, from the disk informationstructures.

Next, the system controller 10 reads recording related parameters fromthe parameter table of the disk information structure including thefound parameter recognition information table in operation 940.

Then, by referring to thus read parameter information, the systemcontroller 10 sets the drive system and controls the drive system suchthat in the set state, data is recorded on the disk in operation 950.

The recording and/or reproducing methods as described above can also beembodied as computer readable codes on a computer readable recordingmedium. The computer readable recording medium is any data storagedevice that can store data which can be thereafter read by a computersystem. Examples of the computer readable recording medium includeread-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), CD-ROMs, magnetictapes, floppy disks, optical data storage devices, and carrier waves(such as data transmission through the Internet). The computer readablerecording medium can also be distributed over network coupled computersystems so that the computer readable code is stored and executed in adistributed fashion. Also, functional programs, codes, and code segmentsfor accomplishing the present invention can be easily construed byprogrammers skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and describedwith reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understoodby those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form anddetails may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention as defined by the following claims. Thepreferred embodiments should be considered in descriptive sense only andnot for purposes of limitation. Therefore, the scope of the invention isdefined not by the detailed description of the invention but by theappended claims, and all differences within the scope will be construedas being included in the present invention.

According to an embodiment of the present invention as described above,by forming a logical parameter recognition information table containinga recording speed, a recording layer, and WS indication information, ina disk information structure, in a medium on which one or more diskinformation structures are recorded, a recording speed and a recordinglayer which recording related parameters in the parameter table of eachdisk information structure desires to apply, and which write strategythe recording related parameters are associated with can be quicklyknown from the parameter recognition information table in the diskinformation structure.

Also, even when a recording speed, a recording layer, and WS are addedin a future disk standard, this disk information structure can be scaledup such that compatibility can be guaranteed.

Furthermore, by determining this rule between different standards,compatibility between, for example, a standard for a write oncerecording medium and a standard for a rewritable recording medium can beachieved.

1. An apparatus for recording data on an optical recording medium, theapparatus comprising: a pickup which emits or receives a light totransfer the data with respect to the optical recording medium; and acontroller which controls the pickup to search for at least one diskinformation structure recorded on the optical recording medium, selectsa desired disk information structure from the at least one diskinformation structure using recording characteristic informationincluded in the at least one disk information structure, obtainsrecording related parameters corresponding to the recordingcharacteristic information from the selected disk information structure,and controls the pickup to record the data using the recording relatedparameters.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the recordingcharacteristic information includes at least one of a recording speedinformation, a recording layer information, or write strategy (WS)indication information.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein therecording speed information and the recording layer information includedin the recording characteristic information indicates a recording speedand a recording layer to which the recording related parameters in thedisk information structure are applied.
 4. The apparatus of claim 2,wherein the WS indication information included in the recordingcharacteristic information indicates a WS of the recording relatedparameters in the disk information structure.